New public consultation to be held over Church Stretton library
Shropshire Council is to carry out a further six week consultation on the future of Church Stretton's library service.
The news follows a meeting between the Church Stretton Library Support Group and senior councillors and officers on Monday 15 December, when the support group presented their case for retaining the library in its current premises in the centre of Church Stretton.
During the meeting the Church Stretton Library Support Group were very critical of the flawed “consultation” that had been carried out by the council for its lack of any detailed information and absence of any options that could be explored to achieve the Council’s own target of cutting £1.3 million from the total library budget for Shropshire.
A formal request was made for the consultation “clock” to be turned back to the start and for a new, fully detailed consultation on the Church Stretton proposal to be carried out.
The start date for the new consultation is yet to be confirmed.
Shropshire Council had proposed that a partnership be created with South Shropshire Academy Trust to provide a library located at Church Stretton School.
Commenting on the development Felicity Thomas, spokesperson for the library support group said:
“We are delighted that the Council has agreed to our request for a consultation that provides all users and residents with enough information on which to form a view about options and proposals. We look forward to taking a full part in this consultation exercise.”
